years, that
was Nature's fault, not Mrs. Smith's!

She grimly ignored the parti-colored hair as she did the natural
exuberance of her grandson's spirit. If Nature had given him an
unquenchable amount of mirth and jollity, that, too, was Nature's fault.
Still, Mrs. Sadoc Smith proposed to quell that mirth and suppress the joy
of Curly's nature if possible.

The only question was: In the process of making Curly over to fit her
ideas of what a boy should be, was not Mrs. Smith running a grave chance
of ruining the boy entirely?

And what boy, living in a house with four girls, could keep from trying to
play tricks upon them? If the shed-chamber had been a mile away over the
roofs of the Smith house, Curly would have been tempted to creep over the
shingles to one of the windows of the big front room, and----

Nine o'clock at night. All four of the girls quartered with Mrs. Smith
were busy with their books--even flaxen-haired Amy Gregg. The rustle of
turning leaves and a sigh of weariness now and then was all that had
broken the silence for half an hour.

Outside, the wind moaned in the trees. It was cold and the sky was
overcast with the promise of a stormy morrow. Suddenly Helen started and
glanced hastily at the window behind her, where the shade was drawn.

"What's that?" she whispered.

"Huh?" said Ann.

"I didn't hear anything," Ruth added.

Not a word from Amy Gregg, who likewise appeared to be deeply immersed in
her book.

Another silence; then both Ruth and Helen jumped. "I declare! Is that a
bird or a beast?" Helen demanded.

"What is it?" cried Ann, starting up.

"Somebody rapping on that window," Ruth declared.

"This far up from the ground? Nonsense!" exclaimed the bold Ann, and
marched to the casement and ran up the shade.

They could see nothing. There was no light in the roadway before the
house. Ann opened the window and leaned out.

"Nobody down there throwing up gravel, that's sure," she declared, drawing
in her head again, and shutting the window.

Just as they returned to their books the scratching, squeaking noise broke
out again. This time Ruth ran to see.

"Nothing!" she confessed.

"What do you suppose it can be?" asked Helen nervously. "I declare, I
can't study any more. That gets on my nerves."

Mrs. Smith put in her head at that moment. "Of course you haven't seen
that boy, any of you?" she asked sharply.

The three older girls looked at each other; Amy Gregg continued to